Lauren B. Jones joined me on the Conquer Local podcast to break down how to build HR and people systems for a world with no physical boundaries.
The old model of HR assumed your talent lived within driving distance. Lauren B. Jones blew that assumption up on a recent episode of the Conquer Local Podcast, and the conversation reframed how I think about building teams in a world with no physical boundaries.
Lauren is the founder of Leap Consulting Solutions and has spent more than 24 years leading in the staffing industry. Her focus is on using technology responsibly in the human capital space, with one non-negotiable: keep the process human.
Candidates Behave Like Consumers Now
One of the first things Lauren pushed on was the “we have always done it this way” mentality that still shows up in too many hiring processes. Her team at Leap describes themselves as hired antagonists, there to challenge the ideal. She put it like this:
“Candidate behavior is changing and we have to change with it. We spend a ton of time challenging businesses to think differently and think like a consumer, think the way other candidates are thinking, and reshape the way that their workflows are moving.”
Candidates today research employers the same way they research a product before they buy it. If your application process feels like a 2005 form, you lose. If your interview cadence is slow, you lose. If your offer letter takes two weeks, you lose.
Fractional Work Is Here to Stay
Lauren made a point that cut through the “when are you going back to the office” noise I hear from a lot of CEOs. She said her dad keeps asking when she is going to retire, and her answer is:
“Retire from what? I get to work when I want, where I want, how I want. This is going to be an outcome driven workplace where people can pick which outcomes they can help companies achieve, get plugged into that, and then move on from assignment to assignment.”
Fractional, outcome-based work is the future for a big slice of knowledge workers. That means the companies who win in the next decade will be structured around outcomes, not hours, and built to plug in specialists when the work requires it.
Technology Must Serve the Human
Lauren’s whole philosophy is that technology in HR is a tool, not a replacement for human judgement. She works with companies on two tracks:
- Tech selection: identifying what they actually need and why
- Process change management: rebuilding workflows so the tech actually improves the candidate and customer experience
Most companies skip track two. They buy an ATS or a recruiting platform and bolt it onto the old process. Then they wonder why nothing changed. The technology did not fail. The process was never reimagined.
The CEO Who Asked Me What I Would Do
I shared a story with Lauren about a CEO I had been working with. He had just taken over a business and was driving real transformation. He asked me what I would do if I were in his chair, after I had spent a week with his teams across multiple markets.
My answer was about people. It always is. If you want a durable transformation, you invest in the humans doing the work. You equip them. You listen to them. You reshape the workflows around what they actually need to serve the customer well. The tools only matter after the humans are set up to win.
This connects directly to the point Lauren made about being overwhelmed. When you have 73 open roles and one recruiter, you do not hand that person more software. You redesign the process, give them better leverage, and make sure the people around them are pulling their weight. For more on how I think about leading through this kind of change, see my post on how COVID changed sales forever.
What I Took Away From Lauren
A few things I am applying from this conversation:
- Design the hiring process for a consumer, because that is who your candidate is
- Build your org for outcomes, not hours
- Always pair new HR technology with process redesign
- Remember that overwhelmed people do not need more tools, they need better workflows
If you are rethinking how your team is structured for the next phase of your business, Lauren B. Jones and the team at Leap Consulting Solutions are exactly the kind of antagonists you want in the room. You can also pair this with my take on what makes a great sales team.
What is one part of your hiring process that still feels stuck in the old model? Send me a note and I will share what I have seen work.